The Dickinson press., 1887-10-01
LINCOLN AS AN ORATOR.
His Unusual Power OF Putting Things"
How He Acquired 1t.


More interesting. however, than the cx-
periences of those who listened to him are the
comments of Lincoln himself OH the methods
by which he acquired his powers as an orator.
a Clergyman who was among his auditors on
one of these occasions has recorded the follow
ing MS among his statements i'll Il converse
tion lie held with him i'll II railroad car:
"'Ah! that reminds NO. he said 'of n most
extraordinary circumstance which occurred
i'll New Haven the other day. They told ne
that the professor of rhetoric in Yale college
a very learned man, isn't lc:' YES, sir,
and very fine critic too WELL l suppose
so; lie ought to I've at any ratc-thcy told me
that he came to hear me, md took notes of
my speech, and gave lecture on it to his
class the next day; and, not satisfied with
that, he followed me up to Mcrilien the next
evening, and heard ne again for the same
purpose. Now, if this is So it is to my mind
very extraordinary. have been sufficiently
astonished at my success i'll the west. 1t has
been most unexpected. But had 10 thought
Of any marked success at the east and, least
Of all, that l should draw out such COM
mcn,lations from literary and learned mrnr
"'rhat suggests, MI. Lincoln, an inquiry
which has several times been upon my lips
tilS cpUNclSttlOll. Will very llluCu
to know how you got this unusual power of
putting things" 1t must have been II mat
ter of education. No man has it by nature.
alone. What has your education been!
"''Well. rs to education, the newspapers
nre corrcct-I never went to school more
than six months in my life. But. as you say,
this must be n product of culture in some
form. have been putting the question you
.,l,;l
ing say this, thnt among my earliest rec
objections, l remember how, when II mere
child, Iuse,l to get irritatel when anybody
talked to ne i'll II way could not under
stand. l don't think ever got angry at
anything elsc in my life. But that always
disturbed my temper, and has ever since. |
can remember going to my little bedroom,
after hearing the neighbors talk of an even
ing with my fathor and spending no small
part of tho night walking up and down, and
trying to make out what was the exact meull-
ing of some of their, to me, dark sayings. |
could not sleep, though often tried TO, when
got on such hunt after an idea until
l had caught it; and when l thought
l had got it, was not satisfied until
had repeated it over and over, until had
put it in language plain enough, as thought,
lor amy hoy Knew 10 colnprehcni. MS
was II kind of passion with me, and it las
stuck by me- for am never easy now, when
am handling IL thought, till have bounded
it north aud bounded it south and bounded il
east and bounded it west. Perhaps that ac-
counts for the characteristic you observe in
my speeches, though | never put the two
things together before. Tho Rev. j. 7.
Guliver in N. y. Independent, Sept. 1, 1864"
1t must he borne in mind that the report of
the foregoing conversation was not written
until more than four years after it took place
While tho main facts and ideas are doubtrs,
given with reasonable fidelity, anything liEe
verbal accuracy in recording Mr.. Lncoln'S
plrascology is not to he presumed.-The Cen
turv